Mavs make LeBron James disappear, even series against Heat

8 June 2011 No Comments

LeBron James of the Miami Heat wipes his face with his jersey against the Dallas Mavericks in Game Four of the 2011 NBA Finals at American Airlines Center on June 7, 2011 in Dallas, Texas. MIKE EHRMANN/GETTY IMAGES

By Doug Smith
Sports Reporter

DALLAS—It was an ugly, fascinating game, one dominated by missed shots and sick stars and disappearing acts.

Photos from the game

It will not earn any style points and it will be remembered more for mistakes and fevers than any semblance of brilliant athletic feats, yet the Dallas Mavericks won’t care a whit.

With their star player fighting a 101 F fever and surviving a handful of awful possessions in the final few minutes, the Mavericks rallied to beat the Miami Heat 86-83 here Tuesday night and breath life into the NBA Finals.

Dirk Nowitzki, obviously feeling the effects of a bad fever, had just 21 points but made a crucial basket on a late-game drive and Jason Terry, who had 17 points off the bench, icing the game two free throws, as the Mavs tied the best-of-seven series 2-2.

“I didn’t really have a good night’s rest, so it was just under the weather a little bit but (I) just battled it out,” said Nowitzki. “There’s no long-term, I’ll be all right on Thursday. It’s just a little sinus infection, hopefully I’ll get some sleep tonight, take some meds and be ready to go on Thursday.”

But even without Nowitzki at his best, the Mavs found a way to win. They trailed by nine with just about 10 minutes left and were staggering until they found some hidden reservoir of energy.

“Look, we’re a tough ball club,” said Dallas coach Rick Carlisle. “We’ve been tough all year. We don’t have the appearance of a physically-bruising type team, but this is as mentally tough a group as I’ve ever had.”

Miami’s last chance to tie died when they botched an inbounds play in the dying seconds and had to settle for a wild Mike Miller heave that never had a chance.

“This series is a jump ball, every single game,” said Miami coach Erik Spoelstra. “And they outplayed us obviously there in the fourth quarter and we didn’t take care of our business on both ends of the court. We did not execute with a level of efficiency or trust and we had a couple of breakdowns.”

Dallas shot just 39 per cent from the field, missed 15 of 19 three-pointers, was out-rebounded 44-41 yet managed to pull out the most important win of the season on the strength of a gritty defence that allowed just 14 Miami points in the fourth quarter.

And Nowitzki, sick and all, drove past Udonis Haslem for a layup that gave Miami a three-point lead with 15 seconds left on the game’s biggest basket.

“Really, I was going to play the clock down but I saw I had a little opening there so I just went for it,” said Nowitzki. “They really played my left, which obviously the whole league does, so I was able to rip through and get to my right and finally finish a layup.”

The story of the night for the Heat will be the disappearing act of LeBron James, who was a total nonfactor almost the entire night in recording the lowest offensive playoff output of his career.

Continuing a series that he’s been unable to put a mark on, James scored just eight points on 3-11 shooting, had nine rebounds and seven assists.

“Obviously, we would like to get him involved,” understated Miami coach Erik Spoelstra of James. “He’s a very important piece to what we do so we’ll work to help make it easier for him the next game.”

James was uncharacteristically absent in the fourth quarter, failing to score a point or really make a significant play.

“He’s physically fine,” said Spoelstra. “I have to do a better job of making sure he’s in positions where he can be aggressive and efficient, we’ll do that in Game 5.”

And James’ horrible outing took everything away from a glorious night for Dwyane Wade, who had 32 points but who was denied a chance to tie it in the final seconds when Miller took too long to get the ball in.

The Mavs also got 11 points from DeShawn Stevenson, who was taken out of the starting lineup for JJ Barea in an effort to add some speed to the Dallas starting unit.

Shawn Marion, who watched most of the fourth quarter from the bench as the Mavs found a group that was clicking and rode with it, provided 16 points for Dallas in his best game of the series that resumes here Thursday night.

Originally published on thestar.com